Swimming pool



F. F. BEEBY I SWIMMING POOL Dec. 20, 1938.

v 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed March 10, 1938 N E 1 v INVENTOR.- 1 Fran/r5 Beeby BY A 64k ATTORNEY.

Dec. 20, I v F F; BEEBY SWIMMING Filed March 10, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i /9 Willi]! INVENTOR. .Fran/r Ffieeky Patented Dec. 20, 1938 PATENT OFFICE SWIMMING POOL.

Frank F. Bceby, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Cement Gun Company, a company of Delaware Application March 10,

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to swimming pools and more particularly to improvements in the construction of swimming pools built of Gunite or like material.

Heretofore it has been proposed to build pools having at one end a deep portion to permit of safe diving and at the other end a shallower portion, part of which may be used for wading while all of it may be used for swimming. Heretofore, theconstruction of such a pool was usually a very expensive operation in that the side and end walls were heavy retaining walls to sup-port the pressure of the adjacent earth and these retaining walls were of considerable depth. Later it was proposed to form the bottom of the swim-- ming tank with inclined portions extending upwardly and outwardly, from the part of greatest depth in the diving portion to the adjacent end and sides and to provide at the upper edges of said inclined portions horizontal parts a footing for a peripheral wall which was relatively low.

as compared with the peripheral walls of the prior types.

The main object of the present invention is to .7 provide a swimming pool of novel and advantageous structure and method of construction.

In carrying out the invention, there is first formed an excavation in which the surfaces including those at the bottom or sides are formed very accurately to correspond with the outside of swimming-tanks to be built, that is with a low level floor portion at one end for the bottom of the diving area of the tank, inclined surfaces extending upwardly toward the adjacent end and :sides and terminating at the bottom of a substantially vertical side surface. There is also another upwardly inclined floor surface extending with a gradually decreasing slope from the low level floor of the excavation toward the remote end of the tank and terminating, at such end and the adjacent sides, at the bottom of a substantially vertical peripheral inner surface of the excavation. Then, after the interior surface of the excavation has been suitably shaped and reinforcing material been placed in position, the tank is formed, as one integral unit, of Gunite or other suitable material by shooting the freshly hydrated material against the earth surface of the excavation by means of a cement gun or the like. The Gunite is formed by mixing sand and cement in the proper proportions, blowing the mixture through a hose to a placing nozzle where it is supplied with enough water to hydrate the mixture, and then directing the material against the earth surfaces of the excava- 1938, Serial No. 195,165

tion where it will form a dense deposit which will, in a short time, become very strong. By use of {Gunite the bottom and sides of the tank may be made relatively thin.

The integral connection between the sloping portions of the tank structure and the peripheral wall provides a cantilever effect at their junction and not only is the height of the cantilever wall reduced by use of such portions, but this reduction in height of the cantilever wall enables a reduction in the thickness of the wall. One of the great troubles experienced in pools of standard concrete design is that there is a tendency of the vertical walls to spread at their junction with the bottom where the full pressure of the water is exerted directly against the vertical surfaces.

According to the present invention; this tendency of the side walls to spread may be reduced by heavily reinforcing the relatively thin slope sections at the inner side of their tops and of the base of the peripheral wall. This reinforcement is designed to provide a point or part for reaction against the tendency of the cantilevered section to bend and break at this point, and may be in the form of a low cantilever wall.

The peripheral wall may be sufficiently strong in itself to resist the pressure of the water but it may be reinforced at the top by means of a sidewalk slab integral therewith at its outer side and designed as a horizontal beam with considerable longitudinal reinforcement. As a matter of fact, the sidewalk slab may act in the manner of a. hoop of a barrel to provide additional resistance to the bursting open of the structure. It should be noted'that all corners may be elimi nated by fillets and curves and that, by utilizing surplus reinforcements and the hoop effect of the sidewalk slab, there may be produced a tank in the semblance of a vessel sunk into the ground and from which all expansion joints have been eliminated.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear upon consideration of the accompanying drawings and of the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a. plan of a swimming pool embodying a preferred form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail sectional View, on a larger scale, taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

According to the preferred manner of carrying out the invention, there is formed in the earth an excavation with surfaces carefully shaped todetermine the shape of the exterior of the swimming pool and, after placing suitable reinforcements in place, the tank itself is formed by blowing into position against said surfaces and to the desired thickness cementitious material such as Gunite Which is made by means of a cement gun.

The excavation may be so shaped that the structure thus formed will be a swimming tank I having at one end a deep or diving area and at the other a shallower swimming or wading section with a bottom I! gradually sloping downwardly toward the other or deep end of the pool. From the bottom of the tank at the deepest part of the diving area lateral portions I2 of the tank slope upwardly and outwardly to the sides of the tank, a portion I3 of the bottom of the tank slopes upwardly to the adjacent end of the tank, and a portion I I slopes upwardly to the adjacent end of the bottom II of the shallow end of the tank.

The bottom of the diving end of the tank may also include a portion or section I connecting the lower edges of bottom portions or sections I2, I3 and I 4 and sloping downwardly to the lower edge of bottom section I5 to provide a low level section to facilitate drainage through outlets I 6.

The floor portions or sections I2 and I3 may extend upwardly to substantially the level of the upper edge of the floor section I3, that is the edge at the shallow end of the pool, at which level all of the sections II, I2 and it are connected with and support a continuous peripheral wall I! integral therewith. The wall I? may be provided at its top, that is at the surface of the ground, with a sidewalk or sidewalk slab I8 integral therewith and preferably extending completely around the pool. Due to the fact that the floor section II at its junction with section M is at a lower level than the foot of the peripheral wall H, the inclined sections I2 do not terminate at this junction but have shallow extensions extending over the bottom section II. It will be evident that the inclined sections I2 and I3 act not only as bottom sections but also to a' certain extent as side walls in that by their use it is possible to use a rather low peripheral wall I7 which may be made much thinner than would otherwise be feasible.

Preferably the peripheral wall I! is provided with a scum gutter I 8 of any suitable form.

To guard against the tendency of the vertical peripheral wall I! to spread at its junction with the inclined bottom sections there may be provided at this junction a horizontal reinforcing member I9 integral with the pool structure and serving as a member or part for preventing bending and breaking at that location. This member or part I9 may be in the form of a' low cantilever wall forming part of a cantilever structure including the sloping bottom sections and the peripheral cantilever wall I'I. i

The structure may be reinforced throughout by suitable means such as wire mesh with heavier reinforcements such as metal rods in the cantilever structure including the peripheral wall Il. To this end there may be provided metal rods 2I extending upwardly and downwardly through said peripheral wall' I! and said inclined sections and out into the sidewalk slab I8 and other rods 2| extending substantially horizontally through such parts and in close cooperation with the rods 2|. If desired the rods 2| of the first set may be continued downwardly through the sloping sections into adjacent bottom sections. The reinforcing member I9 may itself be reinforced and connected with the tank proper by means of additional rods 2I passing through said member 59 and extending into the tank walls or bottom. Also to increase the strength of the cantilever connection, the inclined bottom or floor portions may gradually increase in thickness toward their junction with the peripheral wall.

Th sidewalk slab I8 not only acts as a hoop around the upper part of the peripheral wall I! but, due to the manner of construction of the slab, the straight portion of the slab at a side or end of the tank serves to hold the wall against bending. It will also be evident that; even if the sidewalk slab did not extend completely around the shallow end of the pool, it might give the peripheral wall sufiicient support where needed.

It should be understood that various changes ma be made and that various features may be used without others without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

A unitary swimming pool ofv Gunite or the like having a deep portion and a shallow portion and comprising a substantially vertical unitary peripheral wall of which the height is substantially the same as the depth of said shallow portion, a bottom having inclined portions extending upwardly from the deeper parts of the pool to the bottom of the side wall and'having a unitary cantilever connection therewith at the junction, a reinforcement integral with said inclined portions and said peripheral wall at said junction and inside said tank, and an endless sidewalk slab integral with said wall at the top thereof and acting on said wall both as a stifiening member and a tension band.

FRANK F. BEEBY. 

